Talk About Me
by CharlieMichelle
Summary: Sometimes it was really hard being Maya, sometimes it was really hard being Farkle or even Lucas. Sometimes it was especially tiresome being Riley. Maybe though, this hardship would be an excellent opportunity for everyone to learn how to make being just them easier. High school AU. Endgame Rucas.


**A/N: Woohoo! Another GMW fic for you all to enjoy. I'll be updating my other soon as well, I think I may do that next actually. Anyway, I just want to make it known that while Maya may seem like the 'bad guy' or the antagonist in some of my plots please know she is not. I love the character Maya Penelope Hart and I love her relationship with Riley, however if this were real life and not scripted I'd imagine their friendship would have had a lot more bumps along the way. I also hate to keep giving such extreme feelings to Riley, but again, if this were real life I would bet money on some of these feelings. Basically what I'm trying to say is, please don't leave hateful comments about my characterizations, everything and everyone always works out in the end. I'd also like to point out that I just really love being able to manipulate characters like the characters of GMW.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own GMW or it's characters.**

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She was in the one place she never thought she'd be in, but even worse she was finding that she actually enjoyed it. She enjoyed the quiet and the time to reflect and she enjoyed the fact that nobody seemed to know her. Crazy as it may be, someone in her big world didn't know her, and it was invigorating and liberating and free. After almost twelve completed years of school Riley Matthews found herself in her first Saturday morning detention. Her parents of course had been displeased, they weren't displeased with the punishment –rules are rules after all Riley Matthews, but rather they were disappointed in her for the reasoning.

Riley had always loved school, she loved learning and socializing. She enjoyed studying and projects and her friends thought she was odd for it, but she never cared. At least, she never showed she cared. She had spent most of her adolescent years lying to herself; always happy, always supportive, and always a shadow. This year she just couldn't find it within herself to put forth the same amount of effort. She started with skipping a class here or there, by October she was shaking hands with teachers and hall aids. By Thanksgiving break she had managed to (it still shocked her to this day) forge signatures on absentee notes and missed maybe five or more days of school. When she arrived back from winter break she just couldn't find it in herself to care, she missed twenty-five days between the New Year and her schools Easter break.

She tried to reason with her parents, that's a lot of time to cover and it wasn't like she missed whole days. She tried to argue with her parents, it wasn't fair that a perfect student was being punished for keeping a solid GPA but not attendance. She tried pleading with her parents, please listen, please acknowledge, please stop and think about your daughter. In the end it was Maya, because really it was _always_ Maya Penelope Hart to the rescue.

"Why'd you do it Riles?"

Riley, who up until this point of the conversation had been lighthearted and worry free –again. "What do you mean?"

Maya wasn't fooled, "Why'd you just throw senior year out the window? You love school, you're freaky about it actually, so why'd you just skip out?"

Apparently, Riley thought with a dismal tone, Maya could be fooled. "I wanted to do something new, something I've never done before."

"You could cut your hair or change your wardrobe, you don't have to throw your future out." Maya reached and gripped Riley's hand, "Riley, your future is so bright, don't extinguish that."

"Why do you do this?" Riley yanked her hand away quickly and stood up to pace, it was a habit she picked up on with the rest of her anxious bits. "Why do you make it seem like you're not going anywhere in life? Why do you put so much pressure on _my_ life? I didn't feel like going to school, I didn't feel like sitting there all day, I had better things to do, what do you want to hear?"

"The truth!" Maya had stood up, mostly for dramatic effect, she may have learned that from her mother. "Riley we tell each other everything, why is this different?"

Riley let out a long drawn out sigh and hugged her arm to her side, another anxious bit. "It's not different." Maya looked like she didn't believe her. "I'm sorry Peaches, I've just been freaking out over graduation and moving on that I just got tired."

Maya hugged Riley tightly and briefly. "It's called stress Riles and everyone has to deal with it, even you my little sunbeam of joy."

Riley just nodded, but sunbeam of joy didn't sound right to her. "It's only one detention, it's not the end of the world."

"Until Lucas finds out."

"Right, because he'll have all the time in the world to find out." Riley turned towards Maya. "This year's been hard for us, so I'm giving him space."

"Because that worked out so well in the past."

Riley just smiled tightly and nodded, she didn't want to mention that Maya was the primary reason she gave him space. She didn't want to mention that she knew Lucas planned on asking Maya to prom, so she gave him space. She didn't want to be involved in this tug of war game they've been playing for almost four years now, so she gave him space. Because in the end she knew what would happen, Maya Penelope Hart would win again. And again, and again.

It was like she was broken out of a trance when she realized someone was waving their hand in front of her face. "Yo, you ok?"

"I'm sorry, must of zoned out, I'm fine." Riley didn't recognize the boy but he seemed charming enough. "Who are you?"

Charming just chuckled a little and ducked his head; "I'm Zachary."

"Do you have a last name Zachary?"

He shrugged; "Depends, do you have a first one?"

She smiled sweetly and stuck out her hand; "I've got both, I'm Riley Matthews."

His grip was firm but comforting and it was strange to Riley. "Ah, Maya Harts friend." He could see her go rigid and just as she yanked he let go of her hand.

"I'm not just Maya's friend."

He was stunned by the pure defeat he heard in her words, but her eyes, her eyes held something fierce and telling; "I didn't think you were. Muldoon, my last name is Muldoon."

"I didn't mean to make it sound like I wasn't Maya's friend, I'm her friend but I mean we have other friends… _I_ have other friends." She didn't even catch him answering her previous question, she was so busy trying to cover up her outburst. She didn't see the amusement in his eyes either, but that was probably for the better. "I'm sorry. Again, you'd think after eighteen years of life I'd be good at this."

He just smiled; "I think you're doing alright. I uh, only came over to tell you that its lunch and most of us aren't required back here afterward."

"So soon? Wow, the time really flew by."

"Yeah, I blinked and it was over." He drawled out as he stood up from the desk he was leaning on. "It was nice to meet you Riley Matthews, maybe I'll see you in here again."

She snorted as she stood up and grabbed her stuff; "Not likely, my parents would have a fit."

"They tend to do that now and again, sure." He laughed when he saw her face, it was a mix between a glare and a refrained laugh. "Alright, I'll bite, why would your parents have a fit besides the given reasons?"

"My father is Mr. Matthews of the history department."

"Oh shit." She didn't try to hide her pleasure when she laughed and he didn't try to hide his hurt expression. "Do you like, get disowned for being here right now?"

"Please, the only reason they knew about this was because Mrs. Morris mentioned it in passing."

Her words were like a double edge sword that sliced through her. Suddenly it was like years of disappointment hit her square in the chest. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why she had gotten emotional so fast and she certainly couldn't figure out why Zachary Muldoon was looking at her the way he was. Then the realization that she was gasping for breath kicked in and the panic of not being able to breathe settled soon after. She was so disoriented that she just found the closest thing to sit on –the floor, she found the floor, and sat. She wasn't aware that this complete stranger whom she'd never met was trying to help her.

Then suddenly she could breathe again, but it was a choked sob. God, she was a mess! She kept trying to apologize to this really very uncharacteristically sweet high school senior but she couldn't get the words out. She could hear him though; "Breathe Riley, that's in another breath in. No don't choke on the breath… ok you're doing better."

By the end of the ordeal she had her hand to her forehead and her back against a wall. The charming dark haired boy next to her just kept patting her knee. "I… I don't even know what that was."

She raised her head when she heard him scoff; "It's called a panic attack and they're god awful."

She didn't have to give her agreement, she never wanted to experience that again. "I mean, why though? Don't those things happen when people are… you know, panicking?"

"Sure they do, but they can happen out of nowhere or because of a trigger." He turned and looked Riley right in the eye. "If they're frequent enough a person can point out specific signs of an oncoming attack. If they're bad enough people find themselves needing medical care."

She could tell he was hedging towards something, something he wasn't going to flat out say. "How bad were yours?"

"Can't put anything past you, can I?"

She smirked and lightly punched his arm. "You dropped hints and I'm really good at reading hints."

Zachary smirked and stood up, he reached his hand down for Riley to grab on and she was surprised to find herself feeling so lightheaded and her knees weak. "Enough to know that what just happened was not a common occurrence but your post reaction tells me that you've been on the edge for a while."

"I bounce back fast."

Riley was shocked to see him nod and then for them to suddenly stop; "But why? Why do you bounce back fast?"

She thought about it for a moment, really thought about it, and before she could form the perfect logical response she was blurting out the simple truth; "I have to, it's what I do."

Zachary looked contemplative, "If you ever want to not bounce back you should let me know."

Riley watched this mysterious figure walk away with no way of contacting him and a smile on her face.

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 **A/N: So there you have Chapter One of my next GMW fic!**


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